The NSA Uses Smartphone Apps Like 'Angry Birds' And 'Google Maps' To Track People

Angry Birds And 'Leaky' Phone Apps Targeted By NSA And GCHQ For User Data -- The Guardian

• US and UK spy agencies piggyback on commercial data
• Details can include age, location and sexual orientation
• Documents also reveal targeted tools against individual phones

GCHQ documents use Angry Birds – reportedly downloaded more than 1.7bn times – as a case study for app data collection.

The National Security Agency and its UK counterpart GCHQ have been developing capabilities to take advantage of "leaky" smartphone apps, such as the wildly popular Angry Birds game, that transmit users' private information across the internet, according to top secret documents.

The data pouring onto communication networks from the new generation of iPhone and Android apps ranges from phone model and screen size to personal details such as age, gender and location. Some apps, the documents state, can share users' most sensitive information such as sexual orientation – and one app recorded in the material even sends specific sexual preferences such as whether or not the user may be a swinger.

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More News On The NSA Uses Smartphone Apps Like 'Angry Birds' And 'Google Maps' To Track People

Spy Agencies Tap Data Streaming From Phone Apps -- New York Times
NSA spying through Angry Birds, Google Maps, leaked documents reportedly reveal -- FOX News
A Little (Angry) Bird Told the NSA What You’re Up To -- ABC News
US and British spies 'get personal data from Angry Birds' -- BBC
U.S., British spy agencies exploit 'leaky' apps for intel: report -- Reuters
Reports: NSA pries info from 'Angry Birds,' other apps -- USA Today
Angry Birds, other ‘leaky’ cellphone apps allow NSA to collect massive amounts of data: report -- New York Daily News
Angry Bird and Dreamy Smurf Are Watching You -- New Yorker
NSA, GCHQ scour Angry Birds, phone apps for compromising info on users -- RT
Snowden leaks reveal US and British spy agencies target phone apps -- Deutsche Welle
NSA using 'leaky apps' like Angry Birds, Google Maps to siphon user data -- CNet
Meet the 'Spy Smurfs': Here's how the NSA, GCHQ target iPhones, Android devices -- ZDNet
Report: U.S., U.K. Tapped 'Leaky' Smartphone Apps Like Angry Birds -- PC Magazine

My Comment: I have trouble seeing terrorists playing the app "Angry Birds" on their cell phones .... but apparently the NSA has a different opinion.